Tuesday 1 March 2016 17:07, UK
Jonjo Shelvey is likely to be handed the captain's armband in the absence of defender Fabricio Coloccini when Newcastle face Stoke at the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday.
Coloccini has been ruled out of the next two matches after suffering a calf injury during the club's 18-day break from competitive action.
Shelvey, who joined the Magpies in the January transfer window from Swansea, led the Magpies in their 2-1 friendly win victory over Lillestrom during their warm-weather training camp at La Manga.
Newcastle manager Steve McClaren stopped short of confirming Shelvey would continue as stand-in skipper while Coloccini is sidelined, but spoke warmly of the England international's leadership qualities.
"The captain has to embody what you are trying to say, that's one of the reasons we brought Jonjo Shelvey into this club, because he epitomises what we want to achieve going forward," said McClaren.
"We need someone to drive this team and lead by example both playing and vocally. It will be interesting to see after a lot of criticism about the team, interesting to see how we cope without Colo [Coloccini] and see who steps forward.
"We've talked a lot about bringing in characters with Shelvey and [Andros] Townsend. He's certainly been vocal. But it's about everybody and we've lacked that especially away from home, and that's one of the reasons we're not winning."
Newcastle head for the Potteries having scored just seven league goals and have won only twice on their travels all season, a return McClaren admits is simply not good enough.
"Everyone is frustrated. You see fantastic individual performances one week and then the next week, it's the polar opposite," added McClaren. "We go from looking like we can beat the likes of Arsenal or Chelsea one week and then concede five goals the next week. We've got to come to terms with that and put it right.
"What gives me hope is when I see all the good things that the players do, we're capable of putting in performances, like against Manchester United, what a comeback.
"You know this team can win games. That's what's really frustrating. We should be winning more games than we're doing, and that's been the message for the last 18 days."
McClaren has been boosted by the return to training of a series of injured players during the break with Paul Dummett, Vurnon Anita, Siem de Jong, Papiss Cisse and Aleksandar Mitrovic all available.
